In the field of telecommunications, there is a trend to reduce both the size and the expenses associated with infrastructure equipment. The result is a demand on telecommunications infrastructure equipment providers to manufacture smaller equipment that can be operated and maintained in a more cost effective manner, while retaining all the functionality of legacy equipment. The modularity of designs proposed for such equipment, along with the smaller sizes desired by system operators, has introduced new thermal management challenges for dissipating heat generated by telecommunications infrastructure equipment. For example, telecommunications equipment typically includes high-power components, such as power amplifiers and power supplies that generate a significant amount of heat. The same equipment will typically also include relatively lower power components, such as integrated circuits, digital circuits, and the like, that generate relatively less heat than the high-power components, but are also significantly more sensitive to heat. As the enclosures housing these components are reduced in size to address customer demands, one challenge faced is how to design a single enclosure that can house and provide adequate cooling for both high-power components and heat-sensitive low-power components while preventing the high-power components from overheating the low-power components.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for thermal management of telecommunications infrastructure equipment.